heart healthy low sodium eating

Why is it that the Heart Healthy diet recommendations limit sodium? It’s highly unfortunate, as sodium is ever so tasty in many applications including (but not limited to) flavorful broths, crunchy kettle chips, and spicy sausage. Those are just a few of my personal high-sodium loves. Limiting sodium is tough for me because I can really go to town on the stuff. I’m not big on sweets – I can stay away from candies and pastries for the most part but put me near a good cracker with sharp cheese or salty chip and you have to fend me off with a stick. Limiting sodium can be a challenge. So what’s the benefit of doing it?

Research studies have shown that a lower sodium or sodium chloride (table salt) intake was associated with significantly lower blood pressure in adults with normal, slightly elevated, or high blood pressure. In most studies, “high sodium intakes” ranged from 2400-4800 mg per day while “low sodium intakes” ranged from 440 (holy low sodium!) to 2640 mg per day (Some study examples: Bray, 2004; Coruzzi, 2001; Geleijnese, 2003; He, 2004). You may wonder why sodium makes a difference in blood pressure. You are wondering, aren’t you? Of course you are.

Well surprise, surprise, it’s complicated! Bodies are complicated. The primary explanation is due to sodium’s role in directing how much fluid the body holds on to. Generally I explain it this way: Sodium and water are friends. Wherever sodium goes, water goes too – linked arm-in-arm with charged chemical attractions (oo la la!). So when we eat a lot of sodium (hello, pizza binge), our body holds on to a lot of water to hang out with it (hello, puffy bloat body). Some people notice the extra water because their feet, ankles, face, or belly swell with it. Some people can’t even tell it’s on board.

Either way, all this extra water has to move around the body to get filtered and whatnot. Guess whose job it is to move it? Your heart! Poor heart is pumping blood through the hoses of your veins and you’ve just increased the volume he has to move. His best response is to create more pressure to push all that extra fluid around to get rid of it. So, he pumps even harder and your blood pressure rises. That’s rough on him, as well as all of your hoses because in some places in your body (like your eyes and kidneys for example), your body has leeeeetle, tiny hoses that don’t respond well to pressure. Think fire hose pressure in your little green garden hose. Not a good match.

The goal of the Heart Healthy diet in limiting sodium is to keep blood pressure within healthy ranges for your heart and blood vessels. Now, as with everything in the realm of nutrition, there is debate about this. A few studies have recently been published that throw some doubt into the mix about the role of sodium in blood pressure regulation.

One such study by NutriNet-Santé found that sodium intake alone was not related to an increase in blood pressure, but rather found that the ratio of sodium intake to potassium intake was a much stronger predictor. Potassium is known as a helpful regulator of high blood pressure and foods high in potassium (like fruits and vegetables) are commonly promoted in diets recommended to lower blood pressure. Interestingly, I’ve been having a heck of a time meeting my potassium goals on this diet. More fruit! More vegetables!

There have been other studies that have suggested a notion of “salt responders” – people whose blood pressure is affected by their sodium intakes vs. others whose is not.

More research to come I hope! But overall, that’s a quick look at why we watch sodium as a contributor in the realm of promoting strong, healthy, not overworked hearts. Come back soon for ideas on how to cut sodium without sacrificing flavor (and joy)!

Welcome back – to you, reader, and to me. The absence has been long and so full of change and craziness. My life changes include a journey from being a bachelorette and part-time RD living in a travel trailer in my brother’s front yard to being a full-time RD and full-time wife with 2 stepkids. The transition made keeping up the blog just a lee-tle unrealistic, so it had to take a back-burner for a time, but I’m ready to get back into learning more about what my patients face when they make a commitment to improve health, prevent and manage chronic conditions, and change their lives.

I’ll be honest – at first I was intimidated about trying to follow a diet with a family in tow:

“Will I have to make separate food for myself? What if my family doesn’t like any of the food? Will it be too expensive to feed everyone on these diets? Ehh….I don’t think doing that blog really makes sense with a family.”

Satisfied with my very justified self-care decision, I went about my life but something kept nagging at me until I let it hit me – my patients have families. My patients have picky kids (and spouses). They don’t get the luxury of saying “Ehh…that’s not important right now.” They have to choose – figure out a way to take care of yourself with a family or simply don’t take care of yourself.

My hypocrisy got the better of me. So will I be eating separate things from my family? Sometimes. Will they dislike some of the food? Probably. But we’re going on this journey because that’s being healthy in real life – challenges and all.

So this time I’m back. For real. I promise.

And to assure you of my commitment, I grocery shopped for my next diet today. The diet I have chosen to use as I re-start is….

The Heart Healthy Diet recommended by the American Heart Association! The spoils of my venture are shown below:

Note that the pile is MUCH bigger than when I was cooking just for me – and this doesn’t even include some extras I bought for the fam.

Or the meat. Doesn’t that seem like a lot of meat? And yes, I smooshed a salmon burger on the way home. Sad.

The meal plan I’m using is courtesy of EatingWell.com and can be found here.

UPDATE: Eating Well has since changed this meal plan. If you click the link, you will see their new Heart Healthy meal plan.

Stay tuned for more information on what the Heart Healthy Diet is and how it’s going for me!

The Good: My sodium intake is at an all-time low. Like, crazy low. I’m wondering if I’m going to get a goiter. Other than that, I’m having a hard time with this one because I’m just starting to hit my stride. Since recovering from my “low carb flu,” I haven’t felt any different than I felt pre-paleo.

The Bad: By the end of the week, I started to resent my food. Like, really despise it. It kinda grossed me out. I did not look forward to eating – I ate because my body required it. Consuming food became completely mechanical and utilitarian. The thought of chewing and swallowing one more boring hunk of animal carcass was just about more than I could bear. I called on a few of my paleo-ite friends for support and they set me straight. The problems I was having with severe food boredom were not “paleo’s fault.” They were, in reality, my fault for choosing the meal plan that I did. When I picked the meal plan that I followed this past week, I did not take into account the fact that the plan called for a piece of meat and/or eggs and a pile of sauteed vegetables. For. Every. Meal. Though paleo allows fruit, this meal plan only included it three times all week, leaving me with basically nil as far as carbohydrate intake. Since, I have escaped the clutches of the meal plan from you-know-where and explored the myriad of paleo recipes out there. Some of them even include such novelties as (Heaven’s to Betsy!) sauces and mixed dishes…and I’m pretty excited about it! In fact, today for lunch I had some crock pot Thai chicken curry and it was deeee-lish!

The ugly: Despite the drastic decrease in my sodium intake, my blood pressure has increased big time. I usually run about 117/75, but today it measured in at 139/95 (and I took it twice)! I couldn’t understand it, so I started looking into other nutrients that affect blood pressure. As it turns out, potassium, magnesium, and calcium can all help in lowering blood pressure. The food diary app I use tracks calcium and potassium, and it indicates that I have been eating about 35% and 50% of the daily recommendations of these important minerals, respectively. I suspect this may be why my BP is so dang high. My mission this week is to actively target these nutrients and hopefully improve my numbers.

Side note: This diet is definitely more spendy than my standard way of eating. Groceries cost me $50 last week (and most of the meat I already had in my freezer).